Egyptian Columnist Wants To Sue Israel For The Ten Plagues

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that Egyptian columnist Ahmad Al-Gamal has called on his government to sue Israel for damages resulting from the 10 plagues. Yep, those 10 plagues—the ones allegedly wrought by God, in the Bible, thousands of years ago.

Gamal’s cri de coeur was published in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Yawm Al-Sabi on March 11; translated excerpts were recently released by MEMRI. Satire or serious, it’s an entertaining read. Here’s a highlight:

We want compensation for the [Ten] Plagues that were inflicted upon [us] as a result of the curses that the Jews’ ancient forefathers [cast] upon our ancient forefathers, who did not deserve to pay for the mistake that Egypt’s ruler at the time, Pharaoh as the Torah calls him, committed. For what is written in the Torah proves that it was Pharaoh who oppressed the Children of Israel, rather than the Egyptian people. [But] they inflicted upon us the plague of locusts that didn’t leave anything behind them; the plague that transformed the Nile’s waters into blood, so nobody could drink of them for a long time; the plague of darkness that kept the world dark day and night; the plague of frogs; and the plague of the killing of the firstborn, namely every first offspring born to woman or beast, and so on.

Additionally, he proposes suing Turkey for invading Egypt during the Ottoman period, France for the 1956 Suez Crisis, and Britain for 72 years of occupation.

One pressing question: if Gamal truly believes in the historical veracity of the Torah, can we presume he also believes that the land of Israel, “from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines,” belongs to the Jews? Someone put this man in touch with Bibi Netanyahu, stat!